Duty (CCAR 1923)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

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7 April 2026 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, exhortation, performing mitsvot, tawfqid, teḥinot in English

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	Show me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Guide me in Thy truth, and teach me; for Thou art the God of my salvation; for Thee do I wait all the day. (Psalms 25:4-5)
	Therefore Eli said unto Samuel: Go, lie down; and it shall be, if thou be called that thou shalt say: Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. (I Samuel 8:9)
	Said Rabbi Adda: There are as many duties to perform as there are sinews in the body of man. Each day the duties call to man and say: Perform us, in order that thou mayest live through the merit of our fulfillment. There are as many ways of neglecting duties as there are days in the year. Each day the sun from its rising unto its setting calls out to man: By the holy Name of Him who has kept thee alive to this day, commit no iniquity. Do not overweight thyself and all the world in the scale of guilt. (Midrash Tanhuma Ki Tetsé №2)
	The voice of duty must be, for every individual, the voice of God. Duty may be humble but it is never trivial. Our duty signifies our place in the universe, for the laws of the universe are service, justice and love.
	What is our duty? An abstract definition of duty is difficult, yet, in our practical life, how few are the doubts that duty presents! The very next thing to do, the very next step to take is always certain. We are like a man with a lantern on a dark road. The lantern shows its bearer only the first step ahead. But that suffices. Let the first step be taken and the next step will be illumined and then the next step and thus to the journey’s end.
	Duty is the foundation of all that is excellent in human existence. It is the basis of service toward others and of benefit for one’s self. Without duty there can be neither sustenance nor health, neither justice nor friendship, neither knowledge nor peace. How poise, character and happiness disintegrate when duty is ignored! The commandments of God form a system of duties, duties to our fellowmen, to our souls, and to God, our Father. Without them there is neither happiness nor peace and obedience of them is true life and length of days.
	Thou are calling us, Lord. Out of eternity Thou are summoning us to become sharers in Thy kingdom of order and beauty. By the bridge of duty we pass from chaos to creation; duty, at times as forbidding as chaos, yet ultimately as radiant as creation in all its splendor.
	Grant, we beseech Thee, that our duties may evoke our zealous devotion. When Thou callest us may we give eager answer to Thy summons: Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth Thee. Lead us along the paths of duty for they are paths of peace. O enable Thou us so to acquit ourselves that there may come unto us the serenity and deep contentment which duty alone conferreth and which only they can find who heed Thy blessed call. Amen.

“Duty” is the fortieth prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 133-134. Unfortunately, we do not yet know of a resource providing clear attribution of authorship for any of the prayers in this volume.

Source(s)

Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Unknown

Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.

Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)

Duty (CCAR 1923)

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